For my local library I purchased the Longitude docudrama so that I could talk to people about why throughout my public spirited activism I’ve always tried to emphasize how crucial is the distinction between objective and subjective judging criteria for incentives*. The Longitude docudrama shows in stark relief the role that politics and social status seeking play in attacking the bloodlines of men like John Harrison, whenever there is the slightest ambiguity to be exploited. In his case, it took intervention by King George with the Royal Society to put a stop to the nonsense.
Whenever I see things out of the X-Prize Foundation, the Gates Foundation (with its “Grand Challenges”) and so forth it really nauseates me, not simply because I know exactly what’s going on in those organizations, but because of the toxic environmental effects on a society that needs to understand the importance of this distinction.
* The BAFAR which became the CATS prize (thence Ansari underwriting the X-Prize), the fusion energy prize legislation and the C-Prize which became the Hutter Prize. Judging for a social science version of something like the Hutter Prize could and probably should be automated so there would be no room for doubt about conflicts of interest.